Sorghum Biology

About this book

Sorghum is Africa's contribution to the world's top crops and belongs to the elite handful of plants that collectively provide more than 85 percent of all human energy. Today, it is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people in more than 30 countries. Only rice, wheat, maize, and potatoes surpass it in feeding the human race. Nevertheless Sorghum receives merely a fraction of the attention it warrants and produces merely a fraction of what it could.

A growing number of researchers already see that a new and enlightened Sorghum era is just around the corner. Accorded research support at a level comparable to that devoted worldwide to wheat or rice or maize, Sorghum could contribute a great deal more to food supplies than it does at present. And it would contribute most to those regions and peoples in greatest need.

The book presented should help to synthesize the literature and achievements in the research on the biology of Sorghum in the 21st century.

Contents

Taxonomy and Genomics of Sorghum: Wider taxonomic and genomic range of the genus Sorghum.- The genus Sorghum Moench.- Sorghum halepense .- Sorghum propinquum.- Sorghum bicolor.- Numerical taxonomy within the genus Sorghum.- Molecular taxonomic and genomic analysis.-Biogeography of Sorghum: Distribution of the genus Sorghum.- Centers of biodiversity and centers of crop origin.- Centers of origin of the genus Sorghum.- Reproduction of Sorghum: Inflorescence general.- Panicle structure.- The pedicelled spikelets.- Anthesis.- Pollination.- Mating systems in Sorghum in general.- Cleistogamy.- Apomixis.- Grain development.- Sorghum breeding in relation to its biology: General Aspects.- Modern breeding situation in Sorghum.- Development of modern Sorghum breeding.- Present and future breeding efforts.- Evolution and gene flow of Sorghum: Evolutionary dynamics and history of Sorghum domestication.- Gene flow and hybridization of Sorghum cultivars to wild relatives.- Gene flow from Sorghum cultivars to wild relatives in Africa.- Gene flow in Sorghum from crop to crop.- Consequences of gene flow and regulation.- Mitigation of gene flow.

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